Thursday, August 29, 2013
Barnes: Gun Nullification Bill Jeopardizing Conceal Carry Changes
Rep. Jay Barnes strikes again! Not content to drift along his lonely raft as the only Republican headed for the waterfall of the veto override on the gun nullification bill (HB 436), Barnes re-read the bill.
In his closer examination he has added an objection to the bill. Previously he had only argued that it was unconstitutional, a trifling concern for the gun-loving legislature. Now he points out that the nullification bill changes some statutes that were changed in SB 75 which took conceal carry away from the Department of Revenue after the scanning scandal.
Will this new relevation a few Republicans or wayward Democrats on-board and sustain Nixon’s veto?..
And – McKenna No St. Louis Wannabe
The New York Times did an article on the bill. Read it here.
Lede: “Unless a handful of wavering Democrats change their minds, the Republican-controlled Missouri legislature is expected to enact a statute next month nullifying all federal gun laws in the state and making it a crime for federal agents to enforce them here. A Missourian arrested under federal firearm statutes would even be able to sue the arresting officer.”
Pull Quote: State Representative T. J. McKenna, a Democrat from Festus, voted for the bill despite saying it was unconstitutional and raised a firestorm of protest against himself. “If you just Google my name, it’s all over the place about what a big coward I am,” he said with consternation, and “how big of a ‘craven’ I was. I had to look that up.” The voters in his largely rural district have voiced overwhelming support for the bill, he said. “I can’t be Mr. Liberal, St. Louis wannabe,” he said. “What am I supposed to do? Just go against all my constituents?”
D-Day for Perry Visit
Today Texas Governor Rick Perry will be everywhere. Early this morning on the air on KTRS (tune in here) at 7:45am, later debating Governor Jay Nixon (I hope this is true!) on KMOX (tune in here) at 9:30am.
Nixon Playing Hard Ball
Governor Jay Nixon’s team has been trying to pick off members of the Missouri Chamber. Post-Dispatch has a copy of the letter he’s been sending members. See it here. Apparently it’s been going to CEOs of the companies. And they’ve been doing conference calls with individual members.
But
Nixon has been complaining to some about United for Missouri’s ad, and calling it the Chamber’s. The Chamber’s is issue-oriented (see it here). United for Missouri (Carl Bearden and Jim Lembke work for them) ad is here. It’s more Nixon = Obama blah,blah,blah.
Where Is HB 253?
Most folks think the override is out of reach now with half a dozen Republicans saying No or using equivalent body language. We’re heading into a long weekend (I expect a lot of “out of office” replies tomorrow). When we return on Tuesday, it’s basically a week to veto session. That’s crunch time.
Where Is Rowden?
With university and medical institutes, Rep. Caleb Rowden’s got to be feeling the heat. But here’s the latest tweet: @calebrowden44 “As of yesterday, right at 60% of the calls to my office have been in support of a #HB253 override. Just FYI for those keeping score.”
eMailbag: Lobbyist Couldn’t Have Saved Walgreens
“I have dealt with AG's for 30 years representing and lobbying for retailers and I would like to know what kind of legal lobbying action would prevent a petition from being filed against a business. This has been true from Danforth to Koster. It is in the AG's hand and to insinuate that an independent lobbyist, I guess you actually meant noticeable PAC check to the AG, would have prevented a petition is a disservice to our system. You should go over to the AG's office and go through all of the petitions during the past 40 years. Many of these companies had representation. Independent lobbyist do not tend to take risks… My experience is they file petitions and then we work through the issues.”
St. Louis Bits
According to Casenet, former state senator Maida Coleman and James Coleman (I’m not sure the relation) are suing Goodwill. I couldn’t get the specifics off Casenet. More to come…
The Joint Interim Committee on St. Louis Metropolitan Statistical Area Governance and Taxation held a five hour meeting yesterday. They kicked it off by declaring that the committee was not going to be discussing or advancing the idea of a “city-county merger.” Still a fair number of people testified anyway that they opposed the idea. Read the Post-Dispatch coverage here.
Slay stickin. According to Jo Mannies Mayor Francis Slay is stickin with incumbent County Executive Charlie Dooley despite his woes. Here’s her tweet: “StLMayor Slay backs STLCounty Exec Dooley for 2014 re-elect, despite poss Dem prim. Mayor hosting Sept. 26 f/r event for Dooley; invites out”
$5K+Contributions
ASA Midwest PAC - $12,140 from American Subcontractors Association – Midwest Council.
Citizens for Responsible Research - $17,000 from Brad Bradshaw.
KCS RAIL PAC - $8,000 from Kansas City Southern.
Missourians for Tim Jones - $10,000 from August Busch III.
Lobbyist Registrations
From the Pelopidas website:
Thomas H Heisey deleted BNY Mellon.